September 23, 2001

[Photo by Robert Sanchez]

A look at a land no longer distant A photo Gallery Two journalists who traveled deep into Afghanistan took in the ruin of the country and its struggling people.

Gentle voices soothe the poison of the day
The phone has been ringing constantly since that tragic Tuesday. Calls keep coming from friends and neighbors, the director of our son's preschool, my daughter's baby sitter. "Are you okay?" they ask in gentle voices. "I've been thinking about you."

Editorials
The gubernatorial ground shifts
Given the way the attack on America has profoundly affected us all, no one need question the sincerity of former Ambassador Pete Peterson's decision to withdraw from the Florida gubernatorial race. In a three-day drive from Boston, following the shutdown of airports, he and his wife reflected on his lifetime of service -- in war, in Congress and in the foreign service. He figured he could do more good in international diplomacy than in state politics, and we wish him success in whatever form his service to the country now takes.

A painful special session
Unless they want coming years' shortfalls to be even worse than this one, lawmakers will use this session as an opportunity to reform Florida's tax base.

Letters
Arab leaders victimized Palestinians
Re: To fight back, we have to know why we're hated, Sept. 16.

Philip Gailey
A nation forever changed
"All is changed, changed utterly." -- W. B. Yeats

Bill Maxwell
New York state of mind is slowly returning
NEW YORK -- Have you heard this gag?

Martin Dyckman
The outdated principles of less government
TALLAHASSEE -- On Sept. 10, a day that now seems so ancient as to belong to a former life, Speaker Tom Feeney called members into the chamber of the Florida House of Representatives to coach them on how to get their bills out of committee and to the floor for a vote.